KP: No trades. We made one yesterday that got us a trade exception, something we feel like is a good thing for us.
The bottom line is that we looked at everything. This was a busy trading deadline. Tom (Penn), Mike (Born), Chad (Buchanan), Nate (McMillan), myself. We looked at every scenario. I can't tell you how many scenarios we went through. But at the end of the day it came down to this: We believe in this team. And I don't want to give up or give away any of our young players, and that's why we were the centerpiece of some of these trades. Because we have young, good players and we think that we can get into the playoffs and we are going to go to war with this team and we feel good with where we are.
So that was the biggest decision factor in not doing anything. When you look down at our team, from top to bottom, we've worked so hard to get them and feel good about them, that we didn't want to do anything. That doesn't prevent us from doing something in the summer and gives us flexibility for the summer. It just puts it off a little bit.
Q: Are you disappointed you couldn't pull something off?
KP: I consider us deal makers. We like doing that. What's different now is we've made so many deals that have brought good players and good people that now you're talking about giving up those guys. And I don't want to give up anybody. I believe in these guys.
When you look at your team with Rudy (Fernandez) and (Nicolas) Batum and Brandon (Roy), as special as he is, and LaMarcus (Aldridge) and Greg (Oden) and Joel (Przybilla), I just don't want to give up on those guys. I think that we can go a long way with what we have and maybe we get criticized because we didn't pull the trigger on Raef's deal, but what Raef's deal does is allow us to let it expire and give us some flexibility this summer.
Q: Surprised you didn't make a deal? Did you go in thinking you would?
KP: Boy I tell you what. It goes through ups and down. One minute you think that there is going to be a deal and you really like it and then the next thing you know it's not there. So it was both. I would say it's both. We thought there were some deals and we walked away.
Q: Did you come close?
KP: I don't know what close means. Did it get to where there were 30 conversations about one deal? Absolutely. But we like our team. Paul Allen last night at dinner I think summed it up best, and that is, let's go to war with this team and see what they're about. We can make adjustments in the future. What we could do is make a huge mistake and give up on someone too early.
Q: You really pushed things to the last minute:
KP: Last 30 seconds. It was down to that on a couple things.
Q: Was something on the table and it was your decision to back out?
KP: It takes two to tango on any trade, so it was both of us. But, yeah, some of them came down to us saying no.
Q: How would you describe the position you're in heading into the summer?
KP: It gives us another 30 games to see what we got, to see if this team can make it into the playoffs, to see if they can still overachieve as we've done. We're effectively the youngest team in the league and we have 33 wins at this time. So it's hard for me to say it's logical to make a big change. And you guys know, we talk about this all the time, how important our chemistry and our culture is. I wasn't going to take a chance on losing that. And there were a couple deals that we really questioned whether we would lose our culture, what our identity is about.
Q: So much has been made about economics during the deadline. Did that ever play a role in the decision to keep Raef's contract?
KP: It's a big ... factor for the rest of the league. The lucky thing we have is Mr. (Paul) Allen and he is a go-for-it guy. He is willing to go for it. Right now is not the right time to go for it. If the economics get worse, that might be better for us.
Q: Surprised at the general inactivity across the league?
KP: What's interesting is that (there were) not a lot of deals that I can tell. Maybe more come out that I'm not aware of. But what I can tell you is there was a ton of talking. This year was as active as can be and it was active for guys to get off contracts. Everybody wanted off contracts. And other than that I don't want to get into specifics of deals.
Q: Are you surprised there wasn't more demand for Raef's contract?
KP: I think there was a fair of demand on Raef's contract.
Q: Just nothing feasible for you?
KP: Nothing that we didn't have to give up on something that we believe in. And again, I want to reiterate this (because) this is the biggest point: We have a great culture with great kids and why tinker with it right now? I believe the big moves should be made in the offseason because when you make moves during the season, you add an element of risk that you can't quantify. So that was a big reason.
Q: You look exhausted, did you leave it all on the court?
KP: We all go after it as hard as we possibly can. Tom Penn, Chad Buchanan, Mike Bourn. I mean Nate (McMillan) and I were on the phone constantly. I bet you I had a thousand e-mails back and forth to Paul Allen in the last week. And I think that's our strength is that we really communicate well. We don't agree on everything. We disagree on some things. But in the end, we felt this was the best thing.
Q: You failed to acquire more experience. Is that a shortfall in not making deal?
KP: Could be. And I'll take that responsibility of not adding that, if you want to call it, That Veteran. We felt like the big thing for us is we have this group of guys that are growing together and if I thought that it was absolutely necessary to have that pure vet, then we probably would have gone and tried to get it. I think this team can grow up without that. I'll take that responsibility of not bringing on a vet.
Q: Was there a plausible deal that you decided not to do:
KP: Yes.
Q: More than one?
KP: Yes.
